Sunday, December 12, 2010

The Tree is up

Today we (and when I say "we", what I mean is "me") put up our Christmas tree.
Don't you hate putting the lights on the tree? I do and I am the one that does it every year. So what I did a couple years ago, when all those trees came out with the lights already attached, was attach my lights to the tree.
I used those small zip ties to attach my string of lights to the branches. Our tree is in two pieces. so I have a small set of lights on the top and a large set on the bottom. So when I take apart the tree the lights are apart in that section as well. This is only a 6.5 ' tree and there are over 400 mini lights on it, lol.
The tree skirt is folded in this picture and its bugging me. But I am going to let it go and not retake the picture. Ya I have a problem, teehee.

I was so upset as I broke an ornament today. My hubby's :( Last year I made us all an ornament that I painted with alcohol inks and put on each of our initials. Hubby's went flying across the room and smashed. I was so upset. Hormones, LOL. My daughters gave me a hug (as they were trying not to laugh) and said "Its OK mom... you can make another one, its OK". Now that I think back it was funny.
Man, I love my girls.

Later on my sister Julia and my niece Amanda came by. We have 2 Christmas trees, and my sister didn't have one, so I gave her my downstairs tree for this year.
Here is Amanda, this girl loves to be the center of attention, and will do anything for it. Nice hair little girl.
Oh I got to craft today. Well if helping your daughter with her homework is considered a craft, then I guess you can call this crafty. She had to write 10 poems with Lord of the Flies in mind, and then bind them.
I think this is a neat idea, but I feel for the kids that don't have the supplies to do this. I know there are many other ways to bind a book, but if you don't know of any, then its not fair to the other kids. I hope the teacher marks more on the contents then the looks.
So that was my whole day.
I really haven't felt in the Christmas spirit yet this year. Even with the Festive cards and crafts I have been doing I still haven't felt Christmasy. But putting up some of the decor around the house, and listening to Christmas music, I want to create a lot of Christmas Crafts.
I want to make a festive banner. A new swag above the closet door. My Santa wall hanging quilt. The list goes on.
Oh speaking of lists I just made my Christmas list tonight.... finally. I was sad when I realized that the spot left for my dad, didn't get filled in.
Hope you got some creative time in this weekend.
Tracy

17 comments:

  1. Love your tree Tracy, and how clever to zip tie the lights on..I HaTE doing the lights, so I borrowed a mini pre-lighted tree from my mom! Your tree is very pretty!! Love the medallions and cards from the previous posts, and I'll take Lord of the Rings any day!! ;) My favorite movies EVER!!!

    Nope..I didn't drop my friends because of the boyfriend!!! heehee, but I feel like I just dropped off the face of the earth...this week has been beyond busy, basketball is kickin my butt,and the season has only begun. UGH..I'm hoping to be able to better balance things in the coming week, and hoping to keep up with everyone in blogland!! ;)

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  2. Tracy, we just got ours up today also. I got to craft to, helped my dil with some journaling books. They turned out cute.

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  3. Tracy,
    Your tree is gorgeous! I also love the garland around the window.
    I will probably get it this week. And yes, the lights are the worst part.
    Thanks for sharing
    Hugs
    Stacy

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  4. Beautiful tree. Sounds like a fun school project.

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  5. love the tree! Thanks for the kind words on my blog. That is a cool project - especially for a scrapbooking mom

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  6. the tree is beautiful. love those windows! its the perfect spot! One of my ornaments got broken too...one I picked up at Radio City Music Hall last year. My son's friend was mortified he broke it....I have to say, I handled it well and just ordered another on line and it was here in a week. We can't sweat the small stuff, thats for sure!

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  7. I got some creative time in this weekend - had a crop here Friday night and I made some Christmas cards, and then on Saturday teaching a class. We made an adorable Maya Road Christmas Album!

    The rest of the weekend was a blur - trying to get some chrissy shopping done for family in NZ which I HAVE to get shipped away tout suite otherwise they will be getting it for New Year!

    Once I have this shipping out of the way - I hope I can relax a bit and enjoy the Christmas season - I hate feeling this rushed!

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  8. Hi Tracy,
    Love your tree--very pretty. I broke more stuff this year than you can imagine--what is with that? I love your window too.
    I had a crafty weekend. Feeling under the weather-thanks to Kirsten and Harlee. They had to share with nana. So, I was home in my crafting space. Good thing I am not too far behind with Christmas stuff. Curtis will deliever the last of the presents to his dad and brother, as he has to drive to Kalispell for the next couple of days for work.

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  9. Your tree is beautiful! I have a ginormous tree that is pre-lit. As soon as they came out with those babies I was all over it. I would have done it myself but our other fake tree was a bazillion pieces and it wouldn't have worked. I bought all really cheap shatterproof ornaments and let my kids decorate it. Let me explain that I have a 9 ft tree and my children are only 3 and 5 so for the first few days up it was only the bottom 1/3 decorated LOL.

    And your daughters are right. You CAN make another ornament. That's one of the perks of being a crafter :-)

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  10. Your tree looks so pretty!! Sorry about the broken ornament. Maybe you should have some egg nog to get yourself in the Christmas spirit?

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  11. Hi Tracy, thanks so much for the sweet comment you left on my blog it really means a lot.

    I love your idea about zip ties I am so going to do that... a couple years ago we bought a prelit tree but it doesn't have enough lights on it for me so I am going to add using your technique to make it easy. I put up the tree too - since my boys are grown and hubby never got into it anyway. So many people are having trouble getting into the spirit this year. We'll just have to keep encouraging each other & not putting so many expectations on ourselves. Hope you have a great Christmas

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  12. Tracy your tree looks gorgeous, and what a neat idea to fix your lights to it. It's one of the worst jobs doing the lights.

    Great poetry book, but I hear what your saying about those that may not be as creative.

    Happy crafting
    Tracy x

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  13. Gorgeous tree! We have one with the lights already on, or we'd probably never put one up. I've been thinking about you and your first Christmas without your dad. Been through that with my husband when his father passed away, and it's tough. Hang in there.

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  14. Wow! Love how your tree is in front of a big window. I don't have one big enough unless I move my kitchen table out and out the tree in there, lol. Yours looks beautiful. I know what you mean about slow starting the Christmas spirit. I'm usually done decorating the whole house in a day and I only have the tree done and the mats on the table in the dining room. I told the boys I am going to have to pull myself out of the basement and get on the ball soon. They go on break at the end of the week and we have baking to start :0) I hope it gets better with missing your dad. That first year is pretty rough.

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  15. Your tree is adorable!! I hear you. I hate putting lights up on the tree, too....so three years ago, we bought a pre-lit tree. Over 1,000 lights on that sucker. Love it!

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